Tag: cost reduction

“Prevention is better than cure” applies to defects in the software development life cycle as well as illnesses in medical science. Defects, as defined by software developers, are variances from a desired attribute. These attributes include complete and correct requirements and specifications as drawn from the desires of potential customers. Thus, defects cause […]

Non-value-added is the work your customer is not paying you to perform.

A clinical laboratory in the African nation of Uganda is preparing to adopt Lean standards to improve efficiency, according to a statement from Ali Elbireer, laboratory administrative director for the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI).

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) recently reported that the Canadian province of Quebec is on track to lower the rate of increase in costs for its universal healthcare system due to the implementation of Lean Six Sigma-based continuous improvement practices.

During a political and economic event sponsored by the nonprofit group Strong America Now in Des Moines, Iowa, USA, three more Republican presidential candidates pledged to use Lean Six Sigma, if elected, to eliminate federal government waste and reduce the deficit.

The concept of applying continuous process improvement to government operations got a large boost today when Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich became the first person to sign a pledge to reduce the national debt over the next five years via Lean Six Sigma cost-cutting principles.

In a speech on economic policy at the University of Chicago today, Former Minnesota governor and Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty promoted Lean Six Sigma as a tool to reduce the costs of government programs by as much as 20 percent.

Chris Collins, the County Executive for Erie County, N.Y., USA, and a longtime proponent of Lean Six Sigma, has released his budget plans for 2012, which include the elimination of about 300 county jobs in order to reduce costs and keep property taxes from rising.

Following the keel-laying ceremony of the 14th and final ship in the T-AKE dry cargo-ammunition shipbuilding program in San Diego, contractor General Dynamics NASSCO said that Six Sigma-based improvements deployed over the last decade have reduced the labor costs of the $6 billion program by 60 percent.

Transplace, a transportation management and logistics firm based in Dallas, has promoted its director of operations, Fadra Norton, to vice president of the company’s Lean Six Sigma group.

For the next two years, many Forutne 1000 companies say they expect to see revenue growth as the economy recovers from the Great Recession, yet a significant fraction of these firms also say they plan to continue cost-reduction efforts, some of which involve Six Sigma, according to a recent Deloitte survey.

In a move to reduce waste and warehousing costs under its Six Sigma plan, Pepsi Beverages Co. has installed an automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) and warehouse control system at its plant in Tampa, Fla., USA.

Chris Collins, the County Executive of Erie County, N.Y., USA, and prominent advocate of the application of Lean Six Sigma in government, has announced formally that he will run for a second term in this year’s November election.

IC-TAG Solutions, a manufacturer of radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, has begun the first phase of its Lean program, which includes a program to reuse and recycle materials and save energy during the manufacturing process.

Demand for tech-savvy financial executives trained in the Six Sigma methodology is rising as investment management firms look for new ways to cut costs and streamline their processes, according to a new figures released by executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates Inc.

Aftermarket automobile windshield manufacturer Safelite Glass Corp. says it has retained sales of $2.6 million and saved $670,000 in costs since launching a Lean program. For this reason the company’s Enfield, N.C., USA, facility was recently recognized by the North Carolina government for contributing to the state’s economic benefit over the last five years.

A New England-based healthcare system is proving Lean Six Sigma tools are not just for manufacturing companies after realizing substantial cost savings in a nearly two-year implementation process.

Despite the common allegation that Lean improvement methods must lead to layoffs at healthcare systems, the reality is quite different at several leading hospitals, where Lean methods are actually saving or creating jobs.

Even after decades of success, Crown Equipment Corp, the Ohio-based manufacturer of electric lift trucks, has recently found ways to use Six Sigma strategies to improve processes, reduce scrap and gas usage and fine-tune operations. The company now has 18 certified Six Sigma Green Belts and 15 Black Belts in its North American manufacturing facilities […]

In the evolution of continuous improvement, the Six Sigma methodology began in the manufacturing sector and later spread to other transactional businesses. While many transactional companies, such as advertising agencies and other service-oriented organizations, still look to manufacturers to learn about the application of Lean Six Sigma, there are lessons that manufacturers can learn, as […]

Most manufacturing processes are controlled by sampling a product at some regular interval. Often, when a process is running normally, this interval is once every shift. It is not too surprising that in today’s economic climate, where cutting cost is of paramount importance, reducing sampling to save money is inviting, especially at large manufacturing facilities, […]

Electric car manufacturer Aptera said it used the Six Sigma process to develop lighter, stronger composite material for its latest electric vehicle, called the 2e.

A challenge facing many new CIOs, CTOs and other technology leaders is the need to change their organization’s culture and reputation. Fairly or not, technology leaders are often saddled with the perceptions (or misperceptions) that their team can’t deliver projects on time or on budget.

Hospitals in the Tampa Bay, Fla., USA, area tripled profits in 2009, largely by cutting expenses. That puts the local hospitals among a growing number of businesses nationally that are focused on controlling expenses to boost income, as the recession cut into revenue growth.